Subject: REVIEW: Jazz Through MIDI
From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 17 Sep 1992 17:20:37 GMT
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews

PRODUCT NAME

	JAZZ: Introducing Jazz Through MIDI
	Volume 1, version 2.0

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

	New Sound Music bills "Jazz Through MIDI" (JTM) as "A New Approach
	to Learning Jazz Improvisation Using Your MIDI Sequencer!"  It is
	actually a series of 60 sequences of jazz solos with rhythm
	accompaniment.  The JTM manual, in addition to providing "lead
	sheets" of all the solos and chord progressions, provides several
	pages of jazz improvisation hints and guidelines.  The manual states
	that it is usable by beginners through advanced jazz improvisers.
	It is, but I'll add my thoughts on that topic later.

AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION

	Name:		New Sound Music
	Address:	P.O.Box 37363
			Oak Park MI  48237
	Telephone:	(313)355-3643

LIST PRICE

	US $45.95

SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS

	HARDWARE

	A multi-timbral synthesizer setup is required, as this software
	relies upon piano, bass, and drum sounds.  I suppose it is possible,
	with considerable effort, to use this software with your Amiga's
	internal sounds (this would entail editing the sequence to re-map
	sounds, especially the drum sounds).  A drum machine and hardware
	sequencer are not necessary (as long as your synth can play the drum
	sounds and you have a software sequencer), but can be used.  All
	told, you'll probably need at least 10-voice polyphony and 4 timbres
	(4 voices for drums, 4 for piano, 1 for bass, and 1 for lead).  More
	polyphony wouldn't hurt.

	SOFTWARE

	It is necessary to have a sequencer that understands Type 1 Standard
	MIDI Files.  JTM is delivered in other formats, however, such as Mac,
	IBM, Atari and selected hardware sequencer formats.  Call New Sound
	Music for details.
	
COPY PROTECTION

	The disk is not copy-protected, and the files are easily copied to a
	hard disk.

REVIEW
	
	As stated above, JTM is a series of 60 jazz solos with rhythm
	accompaniment, organized into MIDI sequences.  JTM comes in a
	variety of formats, but my version is a set of Type 1 Standard MIDI
	Files on an Amiga disk.  I have an Amiga 2000 (soon to be an A3000)
	and Dr. T's Tiger Cub.  My synth is a Korg M1.

	It is easier for me to refer to the 60 solos as separate sequences,
	each 4, 8, 12, or 16 bars long, even though they are delivered
	concatenated into four Standard MIDI files.  In each file, the
	sequences are separated by 8 beats (two bars of bass drum thumps).
	Each MIDI file, or each sequence, is four tracks: drums are assigned
	to track/channel 1, piano to track/channel 2, bass to track/channel
	3, and the lead voice to track/channel 4.  Your sequencer will
	probably let you change track and MIDI channel assignments.

	From there, your sequencer takes over:  load one of the Standard
	MIDI Files into your sequencer, figure out which sequence you want
	to play, and delete the parts of the file that come before and after
	that particular sequence.  All of this was pretty straightforward in
	my copy of Tiger Cub, but your mileage may vary.  Set it to loop,
	and hit "play", and listen to a jazz quartet jam non-stop.

	The 60 sequences come as many different styles and progressions:
	ii-V-I in a swing style, ii-V-I swing with turnarounds, ii-V-I
	latin, 12-bar blues, and over 20 sequences in the style of such
	folks as McCoy Tyner, Oscar Peterson, Herbie Hancock, Dizzy
	Gillespie, John Coltrane, Bird, and others.  Those sequences can be
	best described as fragments of jazz standards.  For example, one of
	the John Coltrane sequences is like an excerpt of him playing "Giant
	Steps" (I don't think the sequence is the complete chorus, and I
	don't know if it is a transcription of his solo from the original
	recording). 

	The sequences are written in different keys (for example, not all of
	the ii-V-I sequences are Dm7-G7-CMaj7), but you can always use your
	sequencer to transpose the non-drum tracks.

	The manual (40 pages, spiral-bound) provides a few details for
	specific setups, such as loading certain formats into hardware
	sequencers or timing problems with A1000 (relating to older Dr. T
	sequencers), and also provides the specifics for MIDI program
	mapping.  The manual also provides drum note mappings, which happens
	to conform to Roland's standard.  A quick note on this drum mapping
	stuff:  you need to have a drum machine which knows these mappings,
	be able to configure your drums to meet those mappings, or edit the
	note values in the sequence.  Since all the drum sounds are on one
	track, you'll probably want to avoid this latter choice.

	The manual has a supposed "lead sheet" of every solo, that has the
	solo and chord progressions notated, the style, a suggested tempo,
	and a suggested lead voice (mostly vibes or alto sax).

	The manual also contains about 15 pages of guidelines on topics such
	as practice suggestions, scales, chord/scale mappings and
	substitutions, ii-V-I progressions, turnarounds, voicings, walking
	bass, modal tunes, and comping.  With all of that covered in 15
	pages, you can imagine that none of it is covered in any great
	detail.

	So, how is JTM meant to be used?  Well, you can use it for practicing
	jazz stuff.  Keyboardists can mute the piano part and practice
	comping, or perhaps practice their left-hand walking bass.  Bass
	players could work on their lines.  A horn player can mute the solo
	line, and practice over the progression.  You could also use these
	sequences to create larger works.  Since I wouldn't even know how to
	begin to create an interesting drum groove, I suspect that I'll start
	out by modifying the groove in these sequences.  You could work on
	analyzing the solos.  Maybe you could try something really tedious
	like transcribing these lead lines (your sequencer will slow things
	down without changing pitch... an advantage over tape decks).  There
	are probably lots of other ideas as well.

LIKES AND DISLIKES

	Any time I listen to sequenced jazz, I think the same thing:
	swing quantization sometimes feels unnatural.  That's mostly
	because swing eighths aren't really dotted-eighth/sixteenth or
	quarter/eighth triplets.  Sometimes it can be either, sometimes
	it's neither.  It depends on a few different factors, including
	style and tempo.  For example, some of the extremely fast Charlie
	Parker solos, e.g. Ko-Ko, approach even eighths.  Find some early
	swing from the 1920's and you'll probably find exaggerated
	dotted-eighth/sixteenths.

	Where all this is leading is that "swing" is not easily quantized
	into a sequence, and will tend to sound unnatural when the tempos
	of a sequence are varied too much.  JTM, it appears, quantizes the
	"swing eighths" into a triplet feel, which is OK, but it won't
	always do.  The user can always tweak the sequences for a better
	feel.  The other styles that are supplied, such as the latin, don't
	necessarily fall into this quantization trap, and feel quite natural.

	Another dislike... the manual.  I'm a firm believer that a manual can
	make or break a program, and I think the manual supplied with this
	program is a little weak.  Not so much on content, but rather
	presentation.  It is a little amateurish:  it looks as if the author
	dashed off a copy on a NLQ dot-matrix printer, and then photocopied
	it to make multiple copies of the manual.  Also, there are
	transcriptions of all the solos in the sequences, with chord changes
	noted, but these are all crammed together in the manual, and it is
	difficult to see where one solo stops, and the next starts.  I would
	have liked to see some white space in between staves.

	The jazz improvisation guidelines provided in the manual can be
	pretty useful, especially if the user has not studied jazz theory.
	Most experienced musicians, however, will know this information:  it
	is reminiscent of the information provided in Jamey Aebersold's "Jazz
	Aids" giveaway.  If you don't have one of those, drop a note to
	Aebersold... the information is pretty useful for reference.  I go to
	the "scale syllabus" all the time, since I can never remember the
	differences between all those diminished, half-diminished, and
	diminished whole-tone scales, and stuff like that.  Between the JTM
	manual and "Jazz Aids", you should be pretty set for reference
	material.  For more in-depth jazz theory information, Aebersold's
	catalog has a wealth of stuff that he would love for you to buy.  A
	college bookstore might help too.

COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS

	Hot and Cool Jazz:
	I don't know how many Amiga users will remember the products
	"Hot and Cool Jazz" and "It's Only Rock and Roll", but JTM
	is actually a very similar concept.  "Hot and Cool Jazz" is/was
	a series of original jazz tunes, in many different styles, delivered
	as SMUS files.  They could, for example, be loaded into a
	a program like Deluxe Music Construction Set.  With considerable
	effort, those SMUS files could be adapted to files usable in a
	MIDI setup.  JTM, of course, approaches from the opposite
	direction (MIDI files which you could change to SMUS).

	Hot/Cool Jazz provided many sample tunes in many styles (such
	as swing, bebop, blues, modal, etc.), but from what I remember,
	each tune sounded fragmented.  Almost as if, for example, you
	were listening to 16 bars out of a 32 bar form.  Looping the
	tune would sound awkward.  

	JTM's sequences don't sound in the least bit awkward.  Most
	sequences are full phrases, and full chord progressions.  Looping
	a sequence sounds natural.  A perpetual "play along".

	Band-In-A-Box and Super Jam:
	I have been waiting for years for a product similar to
	Band-In-A-Box (BIAB) (which is available for PCs, Ataris,
	and Macs).  Super Jam, which was released last year, comes
	very close, but since it has a limited number of jazz/latin
	styles, requires that the user program new styles.

	This product, JTM, provides quite a few different jazz styles, and
	the sequences are editable, of course.  But it is not really the
	same type of product as BIAB or Super Jam, which could arguably be
	called algorithmic compositional tools (you provide input such as
	style and chord progressions, and the software provides you tunes).

BUGS, SUPPORT, and WARRANTY

	I've listened to all the sequences, and there are no obvious faults
	in them (such as wrong notes/chords, or missing beats).

	I have not called the company, but I can't imagine under what kind
	of circumstances I would need to call them for software support.
	There is no warranty printed in the manual.

CONCLUSIONS

	New Sound Music bills this product as being appropriate for
	beginning through advanced jazz improvisers.  I agree, but with some
	reservations that I'll explain.  Certainly, JTM is good for
	beginners.  Not beginning musicians, though, but beginning
	improvisers.  On the other hand, when I was a beginner trombonist,
	had I been taught with improvisation in mind, such as drilling with
	play along records, playing simple melodies, I think I would be a
	completely different musician now.  The JTM material pretty much
	starts at a level where the musician should be ready for the basic
	blues progression and basic ii-V-I progressions.  From there, the
	material advances, such as ii-V-I with turnarounds.

	Certainly, JTM is appropriate for intermediate players, but only if
	the player is into the "play along" concept.  I think Aebersold's
	materials are great, but sometimes I get bored by working with the
	play-along records.  For example, I think it's an important step to
	jam for hours in one key, especially unfamiliar keys.  I doubt I'd
	ever be able to get a self-respecting rhythm section that would be
	willing to jam for hours on a Db blues, so instead I work with a
	record.  I  gets kind of boring though... one tempo, one comping
	style.  JTM, at least, because you are using sequenced material,
	lets you vary tempo and key.  With some editing, you can vary the
	comping.  In my own playing, I find that I'm at the point where I
	need to slow down some things, such as turnarounds, and really work
	on them.

	The advanced player: well, some of the sequences I would consider
	pretty advanced.  Then again, an advanced player may not need
	to drill with a play-along, or need to analyze the solos provided
	in the sequences.  In fact, most advanced players probably could
	work up one of these sequences for themselves in a few minutes:
	lay down bass and drums tracks, and then comp a piano part.  I
	doubt they really need to buy a set of pre-arranged sequences.
	They could, of course, to save time.

	To wrap this all up, I'd have to say the value of this product
	depends on your ability and your level, and your needs.  Considering
	it's price and quality, I think it's a pretty good value.  These are
	pretty high quality sequences.

Copyright 1992 Guy F. Klose.  All rights reserved.

---

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